Study of low-spin states in $^{154}$Gd via the $(p,p^{\prime}\gamma)$ reaction
ORAL
Abstract
Located in a region where nuclear shapes change rapidly, nuclei at $N=90$ have long been a challenge for nuclear structure models. Competing ideas involve shape coexistence, a critical point of a shape phase transition, and tetrahedral symmetries. For example, it has been predicted that $^{154}$Gd is a tetrahedral double-magic nucleus. Despite previous studies of $^{154}$Gd, there remains no definite explanation for its structure. Much discriminatory information between nuclear models comes from low-spin non-yrast states, so probing states below the pairing gap and their properties may lead to a clearer interpretation of the structure of $^{154}$Gd. An ideal reaction to achieve this is the $(p,p^{\prime}\gamma)$ reaction. We performed the $^{154}$Gd($p,p^{\prime}\gamma$) reaction at the laboratory of the University of Jyv\"{a}skyl\"{a} using 12 MeV protons and the JUROGAM II and LISA spectrometers. Preliminary results and analysis will be presented.
–